1998 FFL World Championships
The 1998 FFL World Championships were the first FFL World Championships. It was held in Nintendo from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The nation was chosen as the host for the first ever FFL World Championships, defeating Sony, Square Enix, and Ubisoft in the bidding process. Qualification for the finals began in March 1996 and concluded in November 1997. The group stage consisted of 32 teams, eight groups of four, with half advancing to the first knockout round. A total of 64 matches were played in 10 stadiums located across Nintendo, with the opening match and final staged at the Mushroom Kingdom Stadium. The tournament was won by the hosts, Nintendo, who beat Rockstar 1-0 in the final. Valve and Ubisoft were the remaining nations who reached the final four. Host Selection Nintendo was awarded the 1998 FFL World Championships on 2 July 1996 by the executive committee of the FFL during a general meeting in Atari. They defeated Sony, Square Enix, and Ubisoft. This made Nintendo the first ever hosts of the FFL World Championships. Voting results Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Nintendo 9 10 13 Sony 5 7 6 Square Enix 3 2 - Ubisoft 2 - - Qualification The qualification draw for the 1998 FFL World Championships took place in Nintendo on 12 December 1996. As tournament hosts, Nintendo automatically qualified for the tournament. The 31 other MFF members were drawn into eight different qualifying groups, seven of four, one of three. Every group winner qualified, while every group runner-up faced off in two legged play-off bouts. In total 12 MFF Nations joined Nintendo in the finals. The 10 SIFA Countries took part in a single qualifying group, with the top 5 qualifying for the finals. There were two qualifying rounds for NIFF Countries. The 1st round consisted of three groups of four Nations. The top two from each group entered the final round, in which the top three qualify for the finals, and fourth enters the draw for the Inter-Continental play-offs. The 1st qualifying round for members of the WFA was made up of eight groups of three. The eight group winners advanced to the second round, in which they were drawn into two groups of four. The group winners qualified for the finals, while the two runners-up took on each other in a two-legged play-off. The winner qualified for the finals, while the loser was entered into the Inter-Continental play-off draw. The EFA consisted of one round, similar to the MFF, with there being six groups of four Nations. The group winners advanced to the finals, while the best-placed runner-up was entered into the Inter-Continental play-off draw. The EFF only had one group of six teams, where the winner would be entered into the Inter-Continental play-off draw. 'List of qualified teams' The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament. WFA (3) Bandai Namco Sony Konami EFA (6) Rockstar Valve Gameloft DC Universe Microsoft Electronic Arts EFF (1) Searon NIFF (4) SNK Square Enix THQ Aswait SIFA (5) Midway Blizzard Ubisoft BioWare BugBear MFF (13) Nintendo (hosts) Sega Pokémon Capcom Inazuma Ninjas Nashville Beta Academy Marvel Skylands Looney Tunes Digimon Ville Host venues Host stadiums Video Game Franchise Stadium Capacity Super Mario Bros. Mushroom Kingdom Football Stadium 52,757 Donkey Kong Jungle Hijinx Stadium 18,500 Legend of Zelda Hyrule Football Arena 31,000 Super Mario Bros. Dinosaur Land Stadium 9,750 Super Smash Bros. Final Destination 15,000 Super Mario Kart Mario Circuit Stadium 6,000 Mother Tazmily Village 5,005 Metroid SR388 Arena 10,000 Metroid Zebes 8,000 Kid Icarus Angel Land Arena 7,500